Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:44:47 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] 'Twas the Night
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

'Twas the Night

'Twas the night before Any Thing, and all through deep space,=20
Nothing existed--time, matter, or place.=20
No stockings, no chimneys. It was hotter than hot.=20
Everything was compressed in one very dense dot.
When out of the nothing there appeared with a clatter=20
A fat guy with reindeer and something the matter.=20
His nose was all runny. He gave a sick hack.=20
"Oh, Dasher! Oh, Dancer! I can't hold it back!"

He huffled and snuffled and sneezed one Ah-Choo!=20
Then like ten jillion volcanoes, the universe blew.=20
That dense dot exploded, spewing out stars,=20
Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Mars,

Helium, hydrogen, the mountains and seas,=20
The chicken, the egg, the birds and the bees,=20
Yesterday's newspaper, tomorrow's burnt toast,=20
Protons and neutrons, your grandma's pork roast.

The universe expanded. The guy said with a wheeze,=20
"Who will ever believe the world started by sneeze?=20
So let's call it something much grander, all right?=20
Merry Big Bang to all! And to all--Gesundheit!"

Science Verse. Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith. Viking, New York, =
2004. 40 pp. + CD. $16.99, C$25.50, =A312.99. ISBN 0-670-91057-0.